Linger

Jayden woke with a start as the door slammed shut. She groggily rubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned, squinting in the harsh morning light. The door opening and crashing shut had become a regular morning wake up call, beginning the morning after her first meeting with Jimmy. That was little over a week ago. Today was Saturday, and she grumbled to herself that she’d been woken so early. She’d survived her first week at Huntington Beach High, keeping to herself and slipping under most people’s radar. She was grateful that it was finally the weekend, a time to kick back and relax - if only the house would let her.

She heard David’s footsteps padding up the hallway before he flung the door open with a look that meant he knew something she didn’t. She raised an eyebrow at him as he beamed at her with an all knowing stare.

Getting increasingly impatient, she pouted, “What do you want?”

“You had a boy in your room.” David exclaimed as his innocent dark eyes lit up.

“What are you talking about?” Jayden sighed, standing up and stretching. Her younger brother continued to watch her with a wide grin that could charm anybody except her into submission.

“I saw him leave and slam the door. I’m gonna tell mom.”

Jayden looked at him in a scrutinising manner. She had no idea what he was talking about. The door had opened and slammed as if like clockwork, and she would’ve known if anyone had been in her room.

“Stop making things up.”

David shook his head violently, “I’m not making it up! I saw him! He was tall, and had brown eyes, and dark hair, and a nose rin-”

Having heard enough, she cut him off, “I didn’t have a boy in my room and I don’t know who you’re talking about. How much sugar have you eaten this morning?”

“None!”

She rolled her eyes, “Liar. Get out and go play a video game or something.”

He poked his tongue out at her before turning on his heel and scampering off back down the corridor. Jayden rolled her eyes and picked out some fresh clothes, heading for the bathroom slowly.

She returned to her room shortly after showering, frowning as she stood in the doorway. The television set was on, crackling merrily as the light from the screen mingled with the beams of sunlight permeating the window. Jayden rolled her eyes and switched it off, knowing her brother must have been responsible. She sighed, making her way next door.

David’s room was similar to hers in size, yet it looked the complete opposite. The floor was barely visible, covered in clothes and toys. The bed was unmade and the curtains were still drawn, blocking out the light and making the space hostile and dark. It was a chaotic bombsite.

Scowling to herself, Jayden exited to room and noticed the stepladder that led to the attic was down at the opposite end of the corridor, and she heard footsteps above her head. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she made her way up the steps. Poking her head through the trapdoor, Jayden saw her mother kneeling in the far corner, shuffling through a large box.

“Mom?”

Her mother jumped slightly, turning and smiling at her daughter, “You scared me!”

Jayden chuckled and made her way across the dimly lit room, kneeling next to her mother, “What are you doing?”

Her mother looked around the space. Jayden knew that look - her mother was redecorating the room in her mind, washing the walls with colour and imagining the possibilities the small space held.

“MOM!”

Both of them looked at the trapdoor, David’s voice echoing through the air. Jayden tutted as her mother stood and sighed, heading for the trapdoor, “Keep looking through things, I’ll be back soon.”

Jayden nodded as she disappeared from sight. Pulling a box towards her, she began shuffling through it slowly. Dust clouds emitted from it as her hands shuffled around the contents, her fingers brushing things that had been abandoned, forgotten and left to decay.

“Why are you in the attic?”

She jumped in surprise as she heard a voice behind her, and rolled her eyes as her heartbeat steadied. David slowly made his way over, leaving fresh prints on the dusty floor before kneeling down next to her. She looked at him from the corner of her eye impatiently, “Helping mom clean this place out.”

“Can I help?”

Jayden shrugged and handed a small box to him, “Sort through that, see what’s in there.”

David’s eager hands quickly swooped into the box, tossing papers and small items over his shoulders as he dug for something of interest. Jayden chuckled slightly and returned to the box sat in front of her. It contained old papers and letters, memories to and from the people who had previously occupied the house.

At the bottom of the box, her fingers wrapped themselves around a small, silver photo frame. Jayden blew the dust away, using her sleeve to wipe the glass. A smiling face grinned up at her and she felt her own lips tug into a smile, as if the picture was contagious.

The photograph was of a boy, around a similar age to herself. The eyes that peered up at her were alight with happiness, a joyous glint in their dark brown pools. He wore a bright smile, a row of pearly whites almost as bright as the sun that caught the contours of his chiselled face. His skin was tanned, and black eyeliner was smudged under his eyes and trailed messily to his cheeks. Dark hair was sharply cut, hanging around his face at ear level, and a stud sparkled in the sunlight on the left side of his nose.

“That’s him!”

She was pulled from her blank thoughts, looking up and seeing something light up in David’s eyes as he pointed at the frame.

Jayden frowned, looking from her brother to the boy in the picture, “What? Who is it?”

“The boy who was in your room! Don’t you remember him?!”

Jayden shook her head and focussed her eyes on the picture, taking in the features of the boy. She’d never seen him before in her life, she was sure of it. Where was her brother getting these ideas from? There had been nobody in her room, she was positive. So where had David seen him before? Maybe he’s seen the picture before, she thought as she opened the back of the frame and removed the photograph, slotting it in her back pocket. She replaced the frame in the box and continued sifting through the contents, making a mental note to ask Jimmy if he knew who the boy was.

---

03:29AM.

The television flickered to life and light illuminated the room. Faint whispers were audible through the crackle of static, falling on sleeping ears before the set turned off and fell silent once more.

“I’m sorry…”